HyperStudio Author - A Great Way to Create Content for iPads, iPhone, Android and iBooks Author.

Create Web Apps from Simple HyperStudio Projects

HyperStudio Projects exported as HTML 5 using HyperStudio Author are automatically configured to be “web apps”, which means that they can be downloaded once from a web-page on to an iPad, iPhone, Android or Chromebook, and the run locally as a desktop app.

The following steps explain how to put a HyperStudio stack as an interactive media module into an iBooks Author project.

If you are viewing this page from an iPad, you can click here to download and open this page as an iBook now. The source document for the iBook can be downloaded an opened in iBooks Author.

Step 1: Open Your Stack in HyperStudio and export for iBooks Author

For example, open the Volcanoes stack. You can find it in the Home Stack set of examples, and it looks like this:

Your HyperStudio stack may have a “Home” button in it, have special transitions between cards, use MBAs (“More Button Actions”), or other HyperStudio features that are not yet supported in the iBooks Author environment. Edit your stack to remove any Home buttons, and set it up as you think best for its use in your iBooks Author project.

Step 2: Export for iBooks Author

The next step is to export your stack as a “widget” for inclusion in your iBooks Author book. With regards to HyperStudio stacks, we think these are best described as “interactive media modules”. That is, you are not making your entire HyperStudio stack into an eBook. Rather, you are creating and using HyperStudio-made content as an enhancement to your eBook.

To export the Volcanoes stack, simply choose “Export for iBooks Author...” in the File menu of HyperStudio.

The next screen that appears lets you choose where to save the file, and has a check-box option for saving a group of interconnected stacks as a single widget. If you have no connections to other stacks, this option should be grayed out.

If there are connections to other stacks, it will look like this:

For now, save the Volcanoes widget to your desktop. The name Volcanoes is fine.

Note: Widget names do not permit spaces, so if your stack was named “My Widget”, for example, you would need to rename it as “MyWidget” when exporting it for iBooks Author.

During the export, HyperStudio will check for anything in your stack that is not yet supported in iBooks Author. Most times, this alert window will appear:

Clicking on the “Details” button will show you the particular items that have been detected.

In the details screen, you can see the item that playing a sound (in this case the applause sound on the last card) at less than 100% original volume of the sound is not supported in iBooks Author. In this case, the applause sound will play, but it won’t be at the quieter level that was set up in the original stack. Also, in general, the graphics effects transitions are not supported in iBooks Author, so currently the “fade” and “fastest” transitions are the only ones from a stack that will be carried over to iBooks Author.

Step 3: Drag and drop into iBooks Author!

Now open your iBooks Author project (if it’s not already open), and just drag the Volcano widget from your desktop right into your iBooks Author page.

After dropping the widget on to the page, it will appear as you see here. Depending on where the widget gets inserted, text may wrap around it, and you’ll probably want to move it for the best placement on the page.

You will also want to edit the text of the widget itself to be most appropriate for how it appears on your page.

Here is the HyperStudio “Volcanoes” stack inserted on to this page as a widget (“Interactive media module”).

Text can flow around the HyperStudio widget, just as it would for any other media element in your eBook.

Tap on the image to the left to open up the Venn stack on your iPad!

Publishing and Sharing (Actually, “Export”)

To actually get you iBooks Author eBook on to your iPad, you’ll need to save (actually export) the final eBook file, which is different than the iBooks Author document that you’re using to create the eBook.

To export the eBook, choose “Export” from the File menu in iBooks Author.

Save the eBook to your desktop. To actually get it on to your iPad, you can then drag the file into iTunes.

You can also Preview your eBook in iTunes by connecting your iPad to your computer, and clicking on the Preview button in iBooks Author.

Easiest Way to View and Share: Dropbox!

Dropbox is an incredibly easy way to get files to your iPad almost instantly, without cables, and without needing iTunes.

Just drag a copy of your exported eBook into your Public Dropbox folder, or even into one of your private folders.

Then with the Dropbox app on your iPad, open the folder on your iPad, click “download”, and after the file has downloaded to your iPad, use the “forward” button and “Open in iBooks2” to add the eBook to your bookshelf.

Even faster is to do the “Export” in iBooks Author directly to your Dropbox folder!

This makes the total “cycle time” of importing the stack into iBooks Author, exporting to Dropbox, and opening (without iTunes or cables!) on your iPad very quick!

To share the eBook with others, just give them the link (URL) to the file on Dropbox. If you’re not sure how to do that, consult the Help features of Dropbox to find out how.

If you don’t yet have Dropbox, you can sign up for it by clicking here.

Sharing with a link in email or web-page

If you don’t have Dropbox, then the usual way of sharing an eBook is to first upload the eBook file to a file server that you have. This could be one that you have your own account for, or it could be an account through your school or work.

Once the file is uploaded to the server, you can then get the URL to its online location, and then either email that to people, or include the link on a web-page that you have created.

When they click on the link in your email or web-page, they will then be able to download the eBook to their iPad, and open it in iBookshelf 2.